Personal Branding in Social Media for Photographers

This presentation "Personal Branding for Photographers in Social Media" was presented by me at the Social Media in Photography event in Kolkata on 31st August, 2014. As the slide deck was created for a live presentation, there was a lot of narration that went into it which is missing here, however, the presentation by itself should give a fair idea on personal branding and how social media can be leveraged for personal branding, for photographer or even otherwise.

Iranian twins – cojoined in the head – at the age of 29, in the year 2003 : Ladan wanted to becomes a lawyer while Laleh wanted to become a journalist. Laleh liked computer games, while Ladan was more interested in computer programming, Ladan was talkative while Laleh was more introvert. : Everybody counselled them to not go for the surgery as it was extremely high risk.

Personal Branding in Social Media for Photographers

1.
PERSONAL BRANDING FOR PHOTGRAPHERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
By Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury

2.
What do we really want
• People to recognize us for our work
• Get more work / business
• Be considered as an authority / influencer
in our area of work

22.
Your Brand Needs Your Personality
Personality matters in social media
Express yourself in social media as you
would do in real life..
FRIENDLY PROFESSIONAL APPROACHABLE AUTHORITATIVE

23.
Social Media is Not Much Different
from Social Life in Real
BE YOURSELF
BE RESPECTFUL
SHARING IS KEY

24.
Social Media is your Radio Station
and you are the RJ
Rj Stays on Theme
INTERACTS with Listeners, makes UNSCRIPTED comments,
at times REPEAT the same songs
Photo : RJ
Rashmi

25.
Everyone Needs a Home
• Set up Your Blog / Website
– Make sure its visually appealing
– Clearly state what you offer and why someone
should work with you
– Your contact information
– Make it social – integrate popular social
channels

26.
• Get a Facebook Page – people can’t “Like” people
but they can like “Page”
• This also helps to maintain a distance between your
“personal” and “professional” side
• Post consistently – make sure you reply to all
comments
• Focus on building a community
• Groups are helpful – don’t stop at joining but
participate and engage

27.
• Post Photos – but make sure you have relevant
permissions
• Make sure your profile is complete and have a clear
picture for your profile
• Use Facebook as a portfolio space to showcase
your best photos
• You can pin your best recent photo on top of the
time line

28.
• Look for and befriend mentors, guides and role
models
• Take time to appreciate and encourage others
• Never be snarky, vulgar or hateful – it will come
back to haunt you !

30.
• Your online resume + more
• Particularly important if you are a professional
• Good place to connect with professional
photographers + potential clients
• A lot of photography related groups to connect
• A good publishing platform
• Get testimonials + Control Endorsements

31.
• A network meant specially for photographers
• Tons of photographer friendly features – uploads
camera info, can prevent downloads, links directly to
Getty Images
• Make sure to use detailed caption and tags for each
images – helps in discovery
• Join various groups based on topic and location
• Participate in contests happening in various groups

32.
• The social layer to any Google service
• Not too many active users BUT
– Has a beautiful interface to display photos
– Numerous Photographer groups and
communities
• Can help with search engine visibility
– Use descriptive title, description for images,
mention, name, location etc
– If you publish anywhere else, set up authorship

33.
• Mobile photography network with more than 80
million users.
• Only Square images with lots of filter options
• A highly engaged and interactive community
• Use tags and hashtags to find images and increase
discovery of your images
• Follow tags and communities of interest
• Share others images with statigr.am
p.s. There are a bunch of filters and editing options
inbuilt.

35.
• Highly popular as photo blogging platform – More
than 80 million Blogs already..
• Reblogging is a key activity that ensures content
spreads very fast
• Share images with descriptive tags, location, subject
etc
• Research and follow community tags like
PhotoOfTheDay etc

36.
Generic Best Practice
• Use a clear positive headshot as your display pic
across all social platforms
• Think of your headshot as your logo – avoid
changing it unless you really need

37.
Generic Best Practice
• Use the About/ Profile section in all the channels
judiciously. Clearly state what you do, your location
and your web address
• Engage Actively : Connect with relevant
communities, initiate and participate in
conversations

38.
Generic Best Practices
• Focus on your Audience : Post leading questions
that encourage your readers to respond
• Openly appreciate good work – even if its by a
competitor
• Be Opinionated – opinions make you stand out
• Consistently post quality content, connect with new
people, post comments and engage in discussions

39.
Generic Best Practices
• Be an Expert : provide advice, publish content that
solves problems, how to guides etc
• Providing free expert guidance will help establish
you as an authority
• You can’t please everyone, so don’t bother if
someone hates you – but don’t give way to hating

40.
Criticism + Reputation
Management
• Do not be aggressive, Do not give
excuses
• Own up your mistake
• Clearly state how you plan to make
it right
• You can’t remove negatives, but
you can build positives
• Monitor the media